Tango is not only a fascinating dance, but also a fascinating idea, philosophy, culture, and lifestyle. In many ways, tango is a metaphor of life. The pursuit of tango is the pursuit of connection, love, unity, beauty, harmony and humanity, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us as individuals, but tango unites us as a people and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. We are humanists. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through connection, cooperation, reconciliation and compromise. If you share this conviction, please join the conversation and let your voice be heard, which is urgently needed and long overdue.

Together we can awaken the world.

December 16, 2014

The freedom in tango is not that of the part in a lower sense, but thatof the wholein a higher sense.

In our society, manypeople think offreedom as such:Every human beingis an independent individualwith certain unalienablerightsconferred
to him/her bythe Creator,among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Since happiness is the motivation of each individual person, competing with others for self-interests is justifiable from one's own perspective. The purpose of government is to protect such personal interests and to secure everyone's
rights to pursue self-interests and to compete with others. Education is designed to empower individuals so that they may succeed in the competition, concerning little about the interests of people as a whole and the cooperation among people. Economics aims at stimulating growth by promoting competitionand
consumption,disregarding that the natural resources are shared by allpeople andneed to be
exploited wisely and utilized prudently, the cooperation among people, and the fair distribution of wealth, etc. Politicians are more concerned aboutthe special interests that they represent thanenvironmental protection, ecological balance, rational
use of natural resources, fair distribution of wealth, social harmony, public good, and other things relating to the common interests of all people.

This civilization, based onself-interests, competition, predatory development, and irrational consumption, isfacinggravecrisis. On the one hand is the unchecked greed, on the other is the depleting natural resources. On the one hand is the extravagant lifestyle and tremendous waste, on the other is the deteriorating environment. On the one hand isthe surge
inGDP, on the other is the increasing inequality. On the one hand is the exorbitant wealth of a
few,on the other isthe
struggles ofmany, etc. Obviously,the
theoretical foundationof our civilizationhas seriousflaws. It created only a tiny minority ofwinners buta vast majority
of losers.It does not give enough consideration on coexistence,
equality, fairness, cooperation, and sharing. (See Tango Is the Search of a Dream.)

The
Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed, - That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness."

It seems to me that weneed to take a long hard
look at these words. Do we understand their meaning truthfully? Should
we decide to change the foundation upon which our society was meant to be
built by the Constitution? Because it turns out, the individualistic interpretation has not brought, nor will it bringthe safety and happiness that most people are seeking
for. (SeeTango and the Outlook on Life.)

When tangowas imported,few Americansrealizedthata newidea was introduced. In contrast toindividualism, tango does not see man as anindependent individual, but as apart of
the whole in aninterdependent, cooperativeandcomplementary relationship with others. Without the latter the
former isnotcomplete regardless of how important he/she is from
his/her own perspective. Intango, the dancers can only perform well when they cooperatewith each
other, and only in suchcooperation can each individual person enjoy the maximumjoy.The success,
therefore, is not that of any single individual alone,but that
of the team as a whole. The two partnersare not in arelationship
ofcompetition,
control, power struggle or taking advantage of each other, but that of love, submission, collaboration and complement. Resting in his arms, surrendering to him, feeling his masculine strength, following his lead without worry, savoring his attention, enjoying his protection, sharing his
emotions and creativity, moving rhythmically with him in harmony,and letting her femininity display to
meet and attract him, theseto the woman mean security, pleasure, and realization of her valueas a woman.On the other hand, beingwith her,
winning her trust, enjoying her femininity, affection, obedience and seduction, feeling her soft bodytwisting in his arms, pampering her, protecting her anddisplaying her feminine beauty, these to the man mean comfort, pleasure, and realization of his value as a man. Tango brings men and women back to their original state, where the two sexes are in a destined fellowship, where there are no calculations of gains and losses, no exchanges of money and power, no worldly concerns,noself-interestsinvolved,only the simple joy and satisfaction of being together, and where allCinderellasandQuasimodos enjoy the treatment and freedom of a royalty.

Happiness isaninner harmonyand contentment.(See The Psychology of Tango and The Conceptional Beauty of Tango.) Individualism, materialism, competition, and power struggle are destructive of that end. What is regarded asvirtuous
in tango is love, intimacy, mutual submission and cooperation. Althoughtango does not involve economic activities and wealth
distributions, asan action
ofcooperation its joy is shared. This principle can be extended to other aspects of life as well. What is not based on
self-interests does notsubmit
to the control of the invisible hand of capital and greed. We can logically infer that wealth can be distributedfairly to
allow all whoparticipated in
itscreation
toshare, rather thanbeing
hoggedby
a few. Just like the victory of a sport team is resulted from thecooperation
ofall the players, so the honor is given to all team members rather than just the ones whoscored.Shareholding,
therefore, seems tobe abetter way ofdistribution than minimum
wages.

How weseeourselvesdecides how weorganize ourpolitical, economic,socialandcultural lives. Jean-Jacques Rousseausaid, "Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains."We created our ownchains. We must also beunchainedbyourselves.Unfortunately,our civilization has not yet evolved tothatstage,I am afraid, as evidenced again by the recent report ontortures, etc. To be a free people, we must first understand what that
means. (See Tango and Equality.) There is still a long way before we truly gain freedom - the freedom that is
stated in the Declaration of Independence. I can only hope that tango will help
to gear up that process. (SeeThe World Needs a Different Philosophy.)